


Dandelion

by chameleontattoos



Series: "There's no pep talk like a military pep talk." [3]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Dandelions, F/M, Flowers, Post-Mass Effect 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:15:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22749967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chameleontattoos/pseuds/chameleontattoos
Summary: Garrus looks at the strange, fluffy plant that Shepard is holding gently in her hand and finds himself struck yet again by just howbizarreEarth life is.
Relationships: Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian
Series: "There's no pep talk like a military pep talk." [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1573000
Comments: 4
Kudos: 39





	Dandelion

Garrus looks at the strange, fluffy plant that Shepard is holding gently in her hand and finds himself struck yet again by just how _bizarre_ Earth life is.

As he’s been led to understand, this particular species of flora first blooms bright yellow—and there are a few of those scattered around—before the petals die off, leaving a spherical growth of seed pods that are each attached to lightweight strands of something like microfibre.

Shepard twirls the plant—a “dandelion”—between her thumb and first finger. A few of the odd little seed-filament growths break off and float away, buoyed by the slight breeze.

“You got any wish-granting plants back home, Garrus?” she asks. He looks at her to ask _where the hell that came from_ , but her attention is elsewhere. She twirls the dandelion again, watching the seeds scatter.

“Wish-granting plants?” he repeats. He knows that he heard her correctly, but the words are so strange in that combination that he feels like he needs to check.

Shepard nods, trailing a finger over the cottony wisps that still cling stubbornly to their parent plant. “Plants that grant wishes.”

“Illuminating,” Garrus snorts. “Thanks for clearing that up.”

“You’re welcome,” Shepard smirks. She bends over with a quiet grunt, plucking two more dandelions from the ground with a deft flick of her wrist. Garrus wraps a hand around her hip to offer support as she straightens.

“Thanks,” she says, discomfort pinching her features.

“ _Bend with your knees, not your back_. Isn’t that what the doctor said?” Garrus asks pointedly.

“What the doctor doesn’t know about me picking flowers for my boyfriend won’t kill him.” Shepard holds out one plant; Garrus has strong feelings about how much the thing _isn’t_ a flower, but he takes it anyway. “Make a wish on the damn dandelion, Garrus.”

“And how, exactly, do I do that?” He flicks a mandible quizzically, looking down at it. The dandelion looks like it wouldn’t even make a meal for a pyjak, never mind contain enough cosmic power to undo and re-weave the fabric of reality.

“You blow on it,” Shepard says, so matter-of-fact, as though what she’s saying makes any kind of sense at all.

“I… blow on it.” Garrus raises a brow-ridge. “It can’t be that simple.”

Shepard shrugs. “It really is that simple. You blow on it, make a wish, and done.”

“And that _works_?” His subvocals hum an incredulous note as he blinks first at her and then the dandelion.

“ _Ehh_ ,” Shepard wrinkles her nose, tilting the hand not holding her dandelion from side to side. “Debatable. Depends how much stock you put in superstition.”

As Garrus watches, she lifts the round ball to her lips, purses them, and releases a gusty exhale that sends seed pods flying in all directions.

A few of them land on her clothes; she brushes them off and drops the empty stalk on the ground, shooting him a cheeky glance. “Good to know.”

“That didn’t sound like a wish.”

“It wasn’t one.” Shepard grins.

“Can I wish for you to be less confusing?” Garrus asks, deadpan. “I could use some luck on that front.”

“A wish won’t come true if you _speak_ it,” she chuckles.

Garrus can’t find it in himself to be bothered that she foiled his _extremely_ cleverly laid plan so easily. “What if I already have everything I might’ve wished for?”

The bright sunlight picks out the flecks of amber in her eyes. “Then you know what I asked mine, don’t you?”

**Author's Note:**

> "[Legend](https://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/why-do-people-wish-on-dandelions) has it that, if you can blow all the seeds off a dandelion with a single breath, then the person you love will love you back."
> 
> Alright, so I got distracted and didn't go buck-wild filling the rest of these prompts yesterday, but here's another!! Inspired by the prompt "dandelion" from [this](https://sidereallife.com/bullet-journal-doodle-challenge-for-february/) challenge list.
> 
> As always, come chat on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/solarfruit)!!


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